Who is Rick Perry? The governor’s web of Christian Right allies converge at prayer event

The nation is in crisis, and government is inadequate to do much about it, the governor of Texas warns.

“That’s why I’m calling on Americans to pray and fast like Jesus did and as God called the Israelites to do in the Book of Joel.”

Drought and locusts were plaguing the Israelites during the time of Joel, an Old Testament prophet; America’s litany of woe, as Gov. Rick Perry sees it, includes economic pain, communities in crisis and “people adrift in a sea of moral relativism.”

The man who seems to be moving inexorably toward a run for the White House maintains that “only God can help.”

At The Response this Saturday, Gov. Rick Perry will pray for divine assistance in what he calls a national crisis. (AP photo)

Perry plans to elicit that divine assistance during a day of prayer, fasting and pleas for forgiveness in the company of several thousand like-minded souls at Reliant Stadium next Saturday.

Dubbed “The Response,” the all-day event is attracting an inordinate amount of attention, not only because of the governor’s presidential ambitions, but also because of his embrace of Christian groups and leaders known for their theocratic tendencies, fringe beliefs and intolerance toward nonbelievers.

Prelude to pilgrimage

Critics of The Response — among them a group of Houston’s most prominent ministers – are quick to point out that the names associated with the event are the same groups and individuals who consider Perry the presidential candidate most likely to receive their blessing, and God’s. Noting that Perry himself has expressed the conviction that he is, perhaps, “called” to the presidency, they contend that the prayer event is prelude to his White House pilgrimage.

Others say the alarm is overstated, exacerbated by a hyperbolic language of metaphor often favored by fundamentalist Christians and that politicians always have sought the blessings of God and the support of the godly. Nevertheless, the prayer extravaganza, coming on the heels of Perry exhorting Texans to pray for rain, has attracted a level of nationwide scrutiny in keeping with his presidential potential.

The most prominent sponsor is the American Family Association, a Tupelo, Miss.-based group founded in 1971 by the Rev. Donald Wildmon as a crusade against salacious TV. The AFA since has branched out in opposition to gay rights, feminism, evolution and other issues of concern to the Religious Right.

IHOP – and, yes, the pancake chain has sued – was founded in 1999 by a self-trained evangelist named Mike Bickle and draws tens of thousands of worshippers to its revivals and sponsors perpetual prayer to help usher in the Final Days.

Bickle preaches an apocalyptic Christianity that warns of the rise of a Satan-inspired religion he labels Harlot Babylon.

“I believe that one of the main pastors of the Harlot movement – it’s not the Harlot movement yet – is Oprah,” Bickle has proclaimed. “She is winsome, she is kind, she is reasonable. She is utterly deceived.”

An army of God

The Call’s founder, Lou Engle, is an outspoken opponent of gay rights who journeyed to Uganda last year to support religious activists backing a law that would have imposed the death penalty on homosexuals.

Organizers of The Response also have enlisted the help of a loose association of ministers and activists calling themselves the New Apostolic Reformation. With roots in Pentecostalism, the movement emphasizes ecstatic worship, prophecy and political activism. According to their writings, followers of the movement believe they are leading an army of God that will take over society and civilian government.

Those who have known Perry over the years do not question his religious commitment – one acquaintance notes that he regularly says grace over meals and attends church regularly – but they also observe that faith has not been a prominent part of his public persona until fairly recently.

Perry grew up in the tiny rural community of Paint Creek in Haskell County, where his family were members of the local Methodist church, since disbanded. Only recently has he mentioned that “God was dealing with me.”

In a speech in Longview last month, Perry revealed that at 27, “I knew that I’d been called to the ministry. I’ve just always been stunned by how big a pulpit I was gonna have. … I truly believe with all my heart that God has put me in this place at this time to do His will.”

Since being elected land commissioner in 1990, he and wife, Anita, have been members of Tarrytown United Methodist Church, a mainstream congregation in an affluent West Austin neighborhood.

After the Governor’s Mansion burned in 2008 and the Perrys moved to a rented home in a newer, even more affluent area of West Austin, they regularly have attended the nearby Lake Hills Church. A nondenominational, evangelical church with some 3,000 members, Lake Hills features a stadium-style auditorium and a rock band.

Perry has said he likes the congregation’s exuberant, nonstaid approach. “They dunk; Methodists sprinkle,” he told the Austin American-Statesman last year.

He also has said more recently that he does not necessarily agree with the groups and individuals affiliated with The Response.

Barry Hankins, a historian of religion at Baylor University, said the views of Perry’s evangelical allies are little cause for concern. It is apocalyptic language in the spirit of the Book of Revelation, he said, and much of it should not be taken literally.

“These conservative religious groups have two languages,” he said. “One language is used to fire up the troops. Pat Robertson is a good example.

Then, when they get into the actual political arena, they tend to speak the same language of any other advocacy group. Perry knows how to use the populist religious language that touches a nerve with these folks.”

Politics or prayer?

Perry’s own political alliance with fundamentalist pastors has its antecedents in ties forged some years ago. He has met with ministers since at least 2005, when he spoke at six “Pastor’s Policy Briefings” organized by the Texas Restoration Project, co-founded by the Rev. Laurence White, of Houston’s Our Savior Lutheran Church.

Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, maintained that Perry’s motives back then were purely political, that he was facing a potential GOP primary battle with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2006 and needed far-right foot soldiers. She also contended the Houston gathering is a political event.

As he considers a run for the White House, religious groups with a conservative political agenda could be useful in primaries dominated by tea party activists and Christian social conservatives.

The danger, of course, is that voters who do not share their politico-religious perspective would be offended by Perry’s enthusiastic embrace.

“I have no doubt that Governor Perry is a man of faith,” Miller said, “but I think it’s divisive to use religion and faith as a campaign prop or to advance political ambitions.”

Not so, said Eric Bearse, a former Perry aide and speech writer who is helping organize The Response.

“Anytime someone in public office steps forward and talks about their faith there will be critics. This event is not about any one individual. It’s a movement of people gathered in a humble spirit of prayer,” Bearse said.